Keyboard for touchscreen
Keyboard systems for interfacing with a touchscreen. The keyboard includes: a plurality of contact members formed of electrically conducting material, each of the contact members having first and second sides; and a plurality of keys. Each key has an electrically conducting key-pad unit and a resilient member, where the resilient member is adapted to maintain the key-pad unit in a spaced part relationship relative to a corresponding one of the contact members. The first side of each contact member is in constant contact with a particular portion of the touchscreen. The key-pad unit is adapted to contact the second side of a corresponding one of the contact members when pressed by a foreign object, to thereby form an electrically conducting path between the foreign object and the particular portion of the touchscreen.
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The present invention relates to data entry keyboards, and more particularly, to tactile keyboards for touch screen.
With the advancement of electronic technologies, touchscreens have become increasingly popular in the field of consumer electronics. A touchscreen is a display capable of detecting the presence and location of a touch (or stimulus) within a display area and interpreting the touch as input. The ability of a touchscreen to receive (i.e., detect and interpret) a stimulus is typically enabled through the use of a plurality of touch-sensitive sensors embedded in the touchscreen.
Touch-sensitive sensors respond to a stimulus and produce a signal indicative of the stimulus's magnitude, relative position, or other characteristic attributable to the stimulus. Typical touch-sensitive sensor implementations in the field of consumer electronics include resistive sensing, capacitive sensing, infrared sensing, optical imaging and dispersive signal technology.
Applications in which touchscreen applications may be used include display interfaces of computing devices, such as notebook computers, iPad™ tablet computer, personal data assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones. Other popular applications in which touchscreens have been incorporated include the user interfaces of bank automated telling machines, kitchen appliances, exercise equipment, satellite navigation devices and various other consumer electronics.
Displays which offer touchscreen functionality provide substantial benefits over traditional displays. These benefits include the ability to directly interact with the content displayed on the touchscreen, rather than indirectly with a dedicated input device, such as a keyboard, keypad, mouse, or touchpad. Another benefit of a touchscreen display is the ability to receive input without requiring the presence of a dedicated input device. As consumer electronic devices (particularly mobile handsets) continue to reduce in size, the inclusion of a touchscreen provides a manufacturer the ability to further reduce the size of the device by eliminating the space required for an input terminal. In addition, by devoting the entirety of a device's surface area for use as a display rather than apportioning the surface area between a display area and an input terminal (e.g., keypad), the total display area may be increased, resulting in a superior user experience.
However, in general, mobile computing devices such as cell phones, smart phones and PDAs which use touchscreens as a primary method of input may be difficult or inconvenient to use. For example, typical touchscreens lack the tactile feedback provided by pressing a tangible button or key in a physical input terminal. Accordingly, users may be uncertain whether any key was actuated at all or any key was actuated more times than intended. Thus, in order for the user to be assured that input is being received as intended, the user is required to monitor the output field on the display to verify both that a key was entered, and more specifically, that the correct key was entered as intended.
Since data entry into the conventional touchscreen is simply based on the 2-D virtual keypad displayed on the monitor, the virtual keys are without depth or any feel other than the simple pressure reaction by the flat surface, and the user must therefore carefully aim to touch the desired virtual key. Unlike the conventional remote keyboard, the touchscreeen has no capability to provide tactile feedback to the user, which limits its usefulness and accuracy in use. Accordingly, it is desired to provide tactile feedback in a touch screen for matching the benefits of a mechanical keyboard.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn one embodiment of the present disclosure, a keyboard system for interfacing with a touchscreen includes: a plurality of contact members formed of electrically conducting material, each of the contact members having first and second sides; and a plurality of keys. Each key has an electrically conducting key-pad unit and a resilient member, where the resilient member is adapted to maintain the key-pad unit in a spaced part relationship relative to the corresponding contact member. The first side of each contact member is in constant contact with a particular portion of the touchscreen. The key-pad unit is adapted to contact the second side of the corresponding contact member when pressed by a foreign object, to thereby form an electrically conducting path between the foreign object and the particular portion of the touchscreen thorough the contact members and the electrically conducting key-pad unit.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device includes a touchscreen and a keyboard system to be mounted on the touchscreeen. The keyboard system includes: a plurality of contact members formed of electrically conducting material, each of the contact members having first and second sides; and a plurality of keys. Each key has an electrically conducting key-pad unit and a resilient member, where the resilient member is adapted to maintain the key-pad unit in a spaced part relationship relative to a corresponding one of the contact members. The first side of each contact member is in constant contact with a particular portion of the touchscreen. The key-pad unit is adapted to contact the second side of a corresponding one of the contact members when pressed by a foreign object, to thereby form an electrically conducting path between the foreign object and the particular portion of the touchscreen thorough the contact members and the electrically conducting key-pad unit.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
Referring now to
The touch-sensitive sensors are responsive to a physical stimulus or contact with a foreign object, such as finger or stylus. Thus, when an image including virtual keys 14 is displayed on the touchscreen 12, the user may input data to the device 10 by directly touching the virtual keys 14. Since the virtual keys 14 are displayed on 2-D touchscreen, the virtual keys 14 do not have depth or any feel other than the simple pressure reaction atop the flat touchscreen 12. Thus, the user may mount the keyboard system 11 on the touchscreen 12 so that the user can get tactile feedback when inputting data into the device 10.
The keyboard system 11 includes: a lower keyboard unit 16 having a lower panel 17 and a plurality of contact members 18 mounted in the lower panel 17; and an upper keyboard unit 20 having an upper panel 21 and a plurality of keys 22. When the keyboard system 11 is mounted on the touchscreen 12, the lower keyboard unit 16 makes a firm contact with the touchsreen surface. The lower panel 17 is formed of electrically insulating (or, equivalently, dielectric) material, such as rubber or plastic. The width and length of the lower panel 17 may be determined such that the lower keyboard unit 16 covers the entire image of the virtual keys 14. The contact members 18 are formed of electrically conducting material, such as metal, carbon-filled rubber, carbon-filled polymer, metal-filled rubber, metal-filled polymer. Each of the contact members 18 has a substantially circular ring shape and is disposed over the corresponding virtual key when the lower keyboard unit 16 is mounted over the touchscreen 12. The location and diameter of each contact member 18 are determined such that the character (or symbol) of the corresponding virtual key can be visible to the user through the inner hole of the contact member.
The key-pad ring 26 is formed of an electrically conducting material, such as metal, carbon-filled rubber, carbon-filled polymer, metal-filled rubber, metal-filled polymer. The key-pad disk 28 may be formed of a transparent material, such as polycarbonate or acrylic. The upper keyboard unit 20 is arranged relative to the lower keyboard unit 16 such that the user may see the character (or symbol, say “A”) displayed on the corresponding virtual key 14 through the transparent key-pad disk 28 and the inner hole of the contact member 18.
When the finger presses the key 22, the key-pad ring 26 makes a physical contact with the contact member 18. Thus, even though the virtual key 14 of the touchscreeen 12 is not directly activated by a user finger, the virtual key 14 is activated by bringing the indirect contact between the finger and the virtual key 14 via the key-pad ring 26, and the contact member 18. More specifically, the capacitance of the finger is transmitted to the virtual key 14 via the key-pad ring 26, and the contact member 18. Thus, key-pad ring 26 and the contact member 18 form an electrical path between the finger and virtual key 14.
While the touchscreen contact is the same as if a user had directly placed his or her finger on the touchscreen 12, the sensation to the user has been altered since the user can now feel the sensation of physical displacement of the key-pad disk 28 as well as the key-pad displacement arrested by contact with the contact member 18. Thus, the user receives a tactile feedback signal, while the signal has been applied to the touchscreen 12. The keyboard system 11 is a mechanical interface for the touchscreen 12 and provides tactile feedback to the user. The key-pad disk 28 may be eliminated depending on the design implementation.
As shown in
The key 22 may have other geometrical shapes.
It is noted the key-pad disk 66 may be formed of transparent and electrically conducting material, such as ITO (indium tin oxide). In this embodiment, the user may see the characters displayed on the touchscreen through the key-pad disks, and thus, the key-pad disk 66 may not include any character that matches the corresponding virtual key displayed on the touchscreen 12.
The key-pad disks 72a, 72b are formed of electrically conducting material, such as metal, carbon-filled rubber, carbon-filled polymer, metal-filled rubber, metal-filled polymer. When a finger of the user presses the key-pad disk 72a to thereby bring the key-pad disk 72b into contact with the contact member 73, the capacitance of the finger is transmitted to the virtual key displayed on the touchscreen 12 through the upper key-pad disk 72a, the vias 74, the lower key-pad disk 72b, and the contact member 73. Since the lower keyboard unit is similar to the lower keyboard unit in
The key-pad ring 98 makes a contact with the contact member 95 when the key-pad disk 92 is pressed by a finger of the user. Upon contact, the capacitance of the finger is transmitted to the virtual key displayed on the touchscreen 12 via the key-pad ring 98 and the contact member 95. The key-pad ring 98 may be formed on the surface of the key-pad disk 92 by various methods. For example, the key-pad ring 98 may be deposited on the key-pad disk 92 by the conventional chemical vapor deposition technique, or any other suitable vapor deposition technique. In another example, the key-pad ring 98 may be coated or printed on the key-pad disk 92. Since the lower keyboard unit is similar to the lower keyboard unit in
In each of
It is noted that the contact members in
The upper keyboard unit 115 and the lower keyboard unit 114 can be slidably mounted along the grooves 119 formed on the inner wall of a case 110 so that the user can use the keyboard system 111 to interact with the electronic device 113. The case 110 may be formed of material, such as plastic, that can provide mechanical strength to hold the keyboard system 111. The case 110 includes a cavity 112 where the keyboard system 111 can be stored when not used, as depicted in
The upper keyboard unit 122 includes a panel that extends over the side of the electronic device 126 and covers a portion of the bottom surface of the electronic device so that the keyboard system 120 can be slidably mounted over the touchscreen of the electronic device 126. The keyboard system 120 can be slidably mounted under the electronic device 126 when the keyboard system 120 is not used.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. A keyboard system for interfacing with a touchscreen, comprising:
- a plurality of contact members formed of an electrically conducting material, each said contact member having first and second sides; and
- a plurality of keys, each said key having an electrically conducting key-pad unit and a resilient member, said resilient member being adapted to maintain the key-pad unit in a spaced part relationship relative to a corresponding one of said plurality of contact members;
- wherein the first side of each said contact member is in constant contact with a particular portion of the touchscreen; and
- wherein the key-pad unit is adapted to contact the second side of a corresponding one of said plurality of contact members when pressed by a foreign object, to thereby form an electrically conducting path between the foreign object and the particular portion of the touchscreen.
2. A keyboard system as recited in claim 1, wherein the key-pad unit includes at least one of a key-pad disk and a key-pad ring formed of an electrically conducting material.
3. A keyboard system as recited in claim 2, wherein the key-pad disk has a substantially circular, oval, or polygon shape.
4. A keyboard system as recited in claim 2, wherein the key-pad ring has a substantially circular, oval, or polygon shape.
5. A keyboard system as recited in claim 2, wherein the key-pad ring is formed on a portion of a top surface of the key-pad disk, a portion of a bottom surface of the key-pad disk, and a portion of a side of the key-pad disk.
6. A keyboard system as recited in claim 1, wherein the key-pad unit includes one or more key-pad disks connected to one or more vias, the key-pad disks and the vias are formed of an electrically conducting material.
7. A keyboard system as recited in claim 1, wherein each said contact member includes a bump formed on the first side and in constant contact with the particular portion of the touchscreen.
8. A keyboard system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:
- a first panel formed of a dielectric material,
- wherein the plurality of contact members are secured to the first panel.
9. A keyboard system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:
- a second panel formed of a dielectric material,
- wherein the plurality of keys are secured to the second panel.
10. A keyboard system as recited in claim 1, wherein the keyboard system is slidably mounted to a touchscreen.
11. A keyboard system as recited in claim 1, wherein the keyboard system is rotatably mounted to a touchscreen.
12. A keyboard system as recited in claim 1, wherein the key-pad unit includes a key-pad disk formed of a transparent material so that a user is able to see the particular portion of the touchscreen therethrough.
13. An electronic device, comprising:
- a touchscreen;
- a keyboard system for interfacing with the touchscreen, said keyboard system including: a plurality of contact members formed of an electrically conducting material and having first and second sides; and a plurality of keys, each said key having an electrically conducting key-pad unit and a resilient member, said resilient member being adapted to maintain the key-pad unit in a spaced part relationship relative to a corresponding one of said plurality of contact members; wherein the first side of each said contact member is in constant contact with a particular portion of the touchscreen; and wherein the key-pad unit is adapted to contact the second side of a corresponding one of said plurality of contact members when pressed by a foreign object, to thereby form an electrically conducting path between the foreign object and the particular portion of the touchscreen.
14. An electronic device as recited in claim 13, wherein the key-pad unit includes at least one of a key-pad disk and a key-pad ring formed of an electrically conducting material.
15. An electronic device as recited in claim 13, wherein the key-pad unit includes one or more key-pad disks connected to one or more vias, the key-pad disks and the vias are formed of an electrically conducting material.
16. An electronic device as recited in claim 13, wherein each said contact member includes a bump formed on the first side and in constant contact with the particular portion of the touchscreen.
17. An electronic device as recited in claim 13, further comprising:
- a first panel formed of a dielectric material,
- wherein the plurality of contact members are secured to the first panel.
18. An electronic device as recited in claim 17, further comprising:
- a second panel formed of a dielectric material,
- wherein the plurality of keys are secured to the second panel.
19. An electronic device as recited in claim 13, wherein the keyboard system is rotatably mounted to a touchscreen.
20. An electronic device as recited in claim 13, wherein the key-pad unit includes a key-pad disk formed of a transparent material so that a user is able to see the particular portion of the touchscreen therethrough.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 6, 2010
Publication Date: Apr 12, 2012
Applicant: Amarante Technologies, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA)
Inventor: Orion Weihe (Fremont, CA)
Application Number: 12/898,714
International Classification: G06F 3/02 (20060101);